Every little girl’s dream at some point or another is to be Prom or Homecoming Queen- or if not that, at least on court for one of these quintessentially important events. If you make it there, you know you’re a somebody. That you’ve made it somewhere in life. After all, high school is the best time of your life, right?
Wrong.
Sure, the road is probably easier for those people in high school that are deemed “popular,” but not by much. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “You only see what people choose to show you,” and this is absolutely true. The cheerleader who appears to have a million friends may never actually be able to confide in them because they always gossip behind her back, and the loner boy at the back of your pre-calc class may be a music prodigy already accepted to Julliard. High school is hard for everybody, whether explicitly or not.
Imagine yourself at a class reunion twenty years from now. How much do you think your former high school classmates will have changed by then? Do you automatically picture the jocks as successful businessmen with happy marriages to supermodel wives? Take a moment to realize how absurd that is. What I’m trying to tell you is: just because you’re one way in high school doesn’t mean you’ll stay that way for the rest of your life.
If I had to place weight on any part of my life, I’d place it on college. And I haven’t even been there yet. But I know that college is where I’ll really grow into my “permanent self.” Obviously, the decisions we make in high school are important because they impact our futures, but I guarantee you that when you look back on your high school career, you’ll see just how much you’ve changed and all the amazing things that have happened to you since then. Contrary to typical high school mentality, high school is not the end all, be all.
So, why am I bringing this up in the midst of all the impending homecoming festivities? Like I said, initially, what girl doesn’t want to be homecoming queen? At the very least it makes you feel good about yourself. After hearing my name announced at the pep assembly as a senior class representative on court, I’ll admit that I was excited. But the bigger question going through my mind was, “How the heck did that happen?” I’d like to think that I represent the minority; those that people don’t always think of right away. Down the road, I’ll be able to tell my own high school daughter how I was on my homecoming court. But that’s not what I want her to see. I want her to know that homecoming queen or not, in the end, it doesn’t even matter. In the real world, nobody cares if you were crowned at the homecoming game. They care about you and your merit.
If you’re on court, great. Have fun with it. If you’re not, don’t despair. Because being on homecoming court has absolutely no bearing on where you go in life.
Look at it this way: would you put “Homecoming Queen” on your college resume?
-Enjouée
EurOK 